Treat (a McRoll in the REAL World story) by Sammy & Ilna
by sammy1026
Summary: The family gathers to go trick-or-treating.


**Summary:** The family gathers to go trick-or-treating.

 **Ilna's notes:** Sammy - loved pulling this together with you! Thanks for always being there to bounce ideas. Mari - We know this is your favorite holiday. Hope you like how it turned out! Readers and REAL McRollers - Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy the bonus story!

 **Sammy's notes:** Always love a chance to co-write with you, Ilna. Happy Halloween, Mari! You two make this entire project a genuine pleasure. Thanks for all the support and encouragement REAL Worlders. You'll never know how much it means to me.

* * *

… _Treat: A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Sammy and Ilna_

"Let's go already!" Jacob cried, adjusting the large silver minion-esque goggles over his eyes. The strap wrapped around the hood of the lightweight yellow sweatshirt he wore under denim overalls, a black G drawn on cloth attached to the front pocket. He looked around expectantly at the large group gathered in Steve and Catherine's living room, ready to trick-or-treat.

"We're just waiting on your brother and Uncle Chin," Jenna said.

Jacob gasped in sudden realization. "Dylan's secret costume!"

"The past three years Dylan has made his costume in secret with Chin and done the big reveal on Halloween night," Jenna explained to Joseph, Elizabeth, and Ang.

"Oh, that's right," Elizabeth said. "First the headless horseman, then the upside down man. I can't wait to see what he comes up with this year. He's so creative."

Jenna nodded proudly. "All I know is this year's involved frisbees."

On cue, the door to the den opened and Dylan emerged with Chin behind him.

"A fidget spinner!" Jacob exclaimed in amazement.

"Wait for it …" Chin said, holding up a finger. He nodded at Dylan who grinned broadly and spun the large cardboard cutout on the front of his costume in a circle.

"Wow!" Jacob cried, his eyes widening.

"That is so cool!" Kaitlyn agreed.

"Nice!" Casey added.

Jenna beamed. "That's amazing, honey."

"Sorry it took so long," Dylan said. He pointed to an arm of the spinner. "One of the frisbees came off."

"Luckily I brought my hot glue gun just in case we needed to do any last minute fixes," Chin said.

"That is very original," Danny said, nodding approvingly.

"Well, not really," Dylan admitted. "I saw a picture someone posted online."

"But you figured out how to make it without looking at any instructions," Chin countered.

"That's excellent," Steve said, genuinely impressed. Dylan looked between the two men and smiled, standing up even straighter.

"Definitely," Cody agreed.

"Thanks for getting me the big cardboard box from Food Land," Dylan said.

Cody smiled. "No problem."

Chin looked at Steve. "That's quite a hole in the den ceiling."

Steve nodded. "You're telling me." He motioned to Joseph. "We're gonna patch up the plaster later this week."

"It'll be good as new," Joseph said.

" _Now_ are we ready?" Jacob cut in, hopping from foot to foot impatiently.

"I think so," Catherine said, taking Angie back from Elizabeth who was planning to stay at the house with Grandma Ang to hand out candy.

As Steve opened the front door, they were surprised to see Esther and Kamekona standing there.

"Trick-or-treat!" Kamekona said with a wide grin.

"Hey," Steve said, smiling in welcome. "I thought you guys were going to a party tonight."

"We are," Kamekona said simply.

"It's not till later," Esther clarified. "We knew you'd all be here so we thought we'd drop by to see all your awesome costumes."

Cammie worked her way through all the bodies to get to Esther.

"Hi, pretty girl," she cooed, bending to kiss the dog's head. "Look at you in your Super Dog bandana." She looked up at Steve, Catherine, and Angie. "A family superhero theme, I love it!"

"And look at you guys," Catherine said, grinning at their costumes.

"Care Bears!" Gabby jumped in. "Ohh, I loved the Care Bears!"

"Me, too," Jenna said. She looked at Gabby and sang, " _If you think nobody cares …_ "

" _Nobody cares,_ " Gabby echoed.

" _Nobody cares like a bear,_ " they sang together before laughing.

"Moooom," Dylan groaned.

"What?" She grinned and put an arm around his shoulder. "Am I embarrassing you?"

He tried to hold a serious face, but his own grin escaped.

"Definitely looks like one of the more comfortable costumes I've ever seen," Chin said, nodding to Esther and Kamekona in their sweatsuits and hoods with little ears sewn on.

"I have to admit that was part of the appeal," Esther said, smoothing over the front of her pink sweatshirt, a rainbow iron transfer affixed to the front. "I loved Cheer Bear when I was kid."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Danny asked Kamekona. "Big Heart Bear?" He motioned to the large red heart on Kamekona's brown sweatshirt.

"Tenderheart Bear, brah," Kamekona corrected. " 'Cause I may be tough on the outside, but on the inside …"

"You've got a tender heart, I get it, I get it," Danny said.

"You know it." Kamekona eyed him. "And we all know which one you'd be."

"Is there a Handsome Bear?"

"No, but there is a Grumpy Bear."

"Grumpy?!" Danny balked. "What exactly are you implying?"

Gabby wrapped her hands around his arm and leaned against his side. "That even when you're a little grumpy, you still care."

He looked at her for a beat before grinning and swooping in for a quick peck. "I can live with that."

"Mooooom," Jacob said, grabbing Jenna's hand. "Can we pleeeease go now?"

Catherine smiled. "I think we're finally ready." She looked at Esther and Kamekona. "We're about to go trick-or-treating, if you want to come with us."

"Everybody's going?" Kamekona asked.

"Mom and I are staying back to hand out candy," Elizabeth said.

"Oh, but it's Angie's first Halloween," Esther said. "You should go with them. We've got plenty of time before the party, we could stay for a while and hand out candy with Grandma Ang."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Elizabeth began.

"We'd be happy to," Esther insisted. She looked at her husband. "Wouldn't we?"

"Absolutely," he replied easily. "Especially if there are still some of Kaitlyn's Halloween cupcakes left."

Kaitlyn gasped. "How'd you know I made cupcakes?"

"As a fellow culinary artist, I sensed it."

She grinned.

"If you're sure," Elizabeth said.

"Definitely," Esther said, moving to sit next to Ang on the couch.

"I'd appreciate the company," Ang said. Dressed as Harry Carey, she wore large frame glasses and held a big microphone with WGN on it. She patted Esther's knee, grinning. "And the young legs to get up and down every time the doorbell rings."

"Well, then, thank you very much," Elizabeth said genuinely. "That's really so sweet of you."

"One of us will be back with the baby before too long," Catherine said. "Make yourselves at home."

"Yeah, help yourselves to anything," Steve said. He motioned to the large bowl on the end table. "Except that candy, it's gotta last all night."

"What you got here?" Kamekona said, rifling through the bowl.

Steve sighed.

"Uncle Steve …" Jacob started plaintively.

"Right," he said, clapping once. "Trick-or-treat. Let's do this already."

* * *

As the group made their way outside, Grace carefully touched one of the sheer ribbons dangling from the clear umbrella Kaitlyn held over her head. "This is really neat, Kaitlyn."

The younger girl smiled. "You haven't seen the best part yet." She skipped ahead and turned to stand in front of the group. "Everybody, I was waiting till we were outside to show you the rest of my costume." She glanced at Dylan who held up both hands, his fingers crossed. Crossing hers as well, she flipped a switch at the top of the umbrella and white lights appeared around the edges and all the way to the top.

"Oh wow," Leilani said.

"A bioluminescent jellyfish," Joseph said. "That's incredible."

"Dylan figured out how to do it!" Kaitlyn practically exploded with delight. "I was telling him how some jellyfish glow while I was cutting out the ribbon for tentacles and he said he could totally make my costume light up!"

"I had some LED strings in one of my circuit kits, so Kaitlyn and I attached them to the umbrella, then we put a battery pack at the top with a switch so she could turn them on and off," Dylan explained. "Simple."

"That's hardly simple, that's amazing," Elizabeth said. "And I love how you worked together to do it."

As the others moved closer to examine the jellyfish costume and compliment Kaitlyn and Dylan, Jenna looked on proudly. She glanced at Joseph and Elizabeth next to her. "It really was amazing watching them work together. Dylan was telling her about circuits and Kaitlyn was telling him what she'd read about jellyfish …" She sighed happily. "Reminded me how lucky I am to have such amazing kids."

"In my experience, amazing kids don't get that way by accident," Joseph said, giving her a meaningful look.

Jenna flushed slightly and gave him a small smile. She glanced over at Catherine and her smile widened. "I guess you would know."

* * *

The group was still laughing and talking as they approached the front door of Rita and Ken McNamara. The older couple that lived next door was very friendly but also constantly on the go so Steve and Catherine didn't see much of them. It was only the previous week, after returning from an extended trip through Europe, that they'd had a chance to meet Angie.

Most of the adults hung back while Jacob lead the children, along with Steve and Catherine, who was carrying Angie, up to the door. Jacob rang the bell and when Rita opened the door greeted her with, "Fiz sif jet!" He then laughed so hard it took him a moment to compose himself and say, "That's trick or treat in Minion!"

"He's been practicing that for a week," Jenna told Elizabeth and Joseph.

Rita clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled as she looked at the assembled group. "You all look so amazing. Clearly you've spent a lot of time on your costumes. Ken," she called over her shoulder. "Bring the bowl of candy. These children surely deserve it."

Ken appeared at the door wearing a large smile and carrying a large mixing bowl full of assorted candy. "Here you go," he said as he held it out in front of him.

Jacob reached in and took a fun-size Snickers bar from the bowl. "Thank you," he said cheerily.

"You're very welcome." Rita reached out and straightened his goggles. "Take another piece. A costume this adorable deserves two pieces."

"Thanks!" Jacob gasped as he extracted a Milky Way from the bowl.

"All of you take two," Rita encouraged them.

After all of the kids had made their choice Rita turned to Steve and Catherine. "Such an adorable little Wonder Woman," she cooed as she stepped out onto the porch to get a better look at the baby. She glanced at the small plastic pumpkin dangling from Steve's hand. "Now obviously you're too young to eat candy but maybe," she dropped two pieces into the pumpkin, "your mommy and daddy might enjoy a little something sweet."

"You don't have to do that," Catherine told her.

Rita smiled brightly. "Maybe not, but I want to." When she thought the children were out of earshot she said, "I'm sure you can find a way to work it off."

As she walked down the driveway Grace, who had been close enough to hear the remark, pulled two pink circles from a packet on the front of her costume and stuck them on the area that represented her emoji's cheeks.

"That is so cool," Casey said as she turned to walk backwards so she could look at Grace's costume. "You can actually change which emoji you are."

Grace's face lit up. "I have ten different choices."

"She had to explain to me what at least seven of them mean," Danny grumbled as they made their way back onto the street.

* * *

Danny walked next to Steve who was now holding Angie. "Superman?" he said, shaking his head. "Really?"

Steve tried to shrug it off. "It was Catherine's idea. And I was just gonna do the suit and glasses but she said no one would know without the t-shirt."

"Well, fortunately for you, no one's gonna give you a second glance when they see my _wonderful_ goddaughter here," he said, taking the Wonder Woman onesie-clad baby gently from Steve's arms.

As Danny began to tell Angie all about Halloweens when he was a kid Kaitlyn stepped up beside Steve.

"I really like your costume," he told her.

"Thanks." She grinned. "Did you know that most jellyfish use their bioluminescence as a defense mechanism?"

Steve smiled. "I did not know that."

"Also scientists are studying jellyfish to learn how to create better underwater vehicles."

Steve could see the spark of passion in Kaitlyn's eyes. "Maybe some Saturday we'll go to the Waikiki Aquarium and you can see some jellyfish up close."

"Really?" Kaitlyn practically squealed with excitement.

"We'll have to ask your mom what weekend would work best for her," Steve said.

They walked a few more steps and then Kaitlyn stopped. "Uncle Steve?"

He turned to look at her when he realized she was no longer beside him. "What is it?"

"I think Superman is the perfect costume for you."

* * *

Cody and Jess, wearing different colored t-shirts with the Crayola crayon logo on them, walked hand in hand behind the kids.

"How are you two liking college?" Kono asked.

"Well," Jess, in an orange t-shirt, said, "we survived midterms."

"Ahh, I remember those days," Leilani said. "Were they rough?"

"So rough," Jess groaned. "I had two exams on the same day. My roommate and I pulled an all-nighter studying. But I think I did pretty well on both of them."

"Nice," Kono said. "What about you, Cody?"

"Not too bad," he said, fingering the hem of his blue t-shirt. "Just one exam and a couple papers. I think I did okay."

"He did better than okay," Jess said. "I read both his papers. They were great. Catherine thought so, too."

"And that's the expert opinion so I'm sure you did great," Chin said, patting his shoulder. "Nice job on the costumes, too. Low key, but effective."

"We went to a party over the weekend with some friends," Jess said. "Look." She pulled out her phone and scrolled to a picture of six college-age students, arms around each other, all wearing different colored Crayola shirts.

Chin laughed, spotting a familiar face as the red crayon. "There's Jadon, right in the middle, of course."

"Of course," Cody said, grinning.

"I love your costumes," Jess said, looking at the three of them.

Chin was dressed all in grey with a cardboard cutout of a rock hanging around his neck. Leilani wore mostly white, a piece of paper around her neck. And Kono was in a red shirt and silver pants, a cut out of a pair of scissors dangling from her neck.

"That is pretty awesome," Cody said. "How'd you come up with it?"

"The internet," Kono said. "Where else?" She shrugged. "With Adam away on business, I was going to pull out an old costume, but I knew Jacob would be scandalized."

Cody snorted, nodding.

"So we decided to try and come up with a three person theme," Leilani continued.

Kono nudged her cousin teasingly. "And since we couldn't get Chin to dress up as the third Sanderson sister, we figured this was the next best thing."

* * *

As they approached the Kayama house Catherine said, "I think this will be the last one for Angie. She should be getting sleepy soon and I think she's had just about all the excitement she can take for one night."

"Do you want me to take her back?" Elizabeth asked.

Catherine shook her head. "No, you guys stay here and have fun with the other kids. By the time you get back to the house she'll be in her pajamas and ready for stories."

Suddenly, two figures approaching from the distance at a jog caught everyone's attention.

"Oh good, we didn't miss it completely," Carrie said as she and John approached the group. "We figured this was the route you'd take. We got tied up at the base party and couldn't get away until about twenty minutes ago." She grinned at her goddaughter. "There's my adorable girl. Look at you in your Wonder Woman outfit. That was a perfect costume choice. Yes it was. Your mommy is brilliant. Aunt Carrie wouldn't have missed seeing this for the world."

"What are you two supposed to be?" Steve smirked as he eyed their costumes.

Carrie held up the bucket in her left hand and looked at him with an expression that clearly read, 'Duh!'. "We're Jack & Jill. The party had a nursery rhyme theme."

Steve took in John's khaki pants, button down shirt and suspenders.

John, sensing what his friend was thinking, smiled. "No tights, no wigs and no masks."

The two men high fived as Catherine and Carrie rolled their eyes.

* * *

After getting their candy from the Kayamas and posing for multiple pictures Catherine was ready to head back to the beach house. Carrie and John, who hadn't seen the rest of the kids for a couple of weeks as both had been working overtime, decided to hit a few more houses and meet back at Steve and Catherine's later.

"I'll see you back at the house, too," Catherine smiled as she squeezed Steve's hands. Sensing two of her humans were splitting off from the pack Camie made her intentions very clear. She would be escorting them home to assure they arrived safely. Above all other things her responsibility was to make sure the tiny human was always safe.

"I'm looking forward to it." He smiled softly as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

As Catherine turned to go she saw Grace pull two pink hearts from the front her pouch and quickly turn her costume into a heart eyes emoji. "Isn't the family themed costume thing romantic?" she sighed.

Carrie snorted. "That may be just about the coolest costume I've ever seen, Gracieco."

* * *

As they walked Carrie took time to really look at each costume.

"You definitely look like a minion." She smiled at Jacob. "Right down to the banana in your pocket."

After ooohing and aaahing over both Kaitlyn's jellyfish costume and Dylan's fidget spinner she had a thought. "I'd love to dress up as a Christmas tree for the kids party at the base. Maybe you guys can help me figure out to light myself up."

"Totally!" Dylan said excitedly, the wheels in his brain already turning.

"Very cool choice of costumes," Carrie said to Jess and Cody. "Ask Aunt Catherine someday about the time six of us dressed up as a box of Twinkies."

"Casey." She grinned as she looked at the teenager's black pants, round black glasses and red and white striped shirt and beanie. "I have to give you credit for going old school. Where's Waldo. I absolutely love it."

"I can't believe he's still around,' Gabby chuckled. "Or that anyone your age knows who he is."

"The library still has some of the books and I always liked those I Spy kind of books when I was younger," Casey replied.

"I get Danny and Sandy, Rock/Paper/Scissors, and, of course, Superman." Carrie studied Jenna's costume carefully. "I get that you're a tooth but I'm a little confused about the spots."

"Those are cavities," Jenna reported. "I dressed as the scariest thing I could think of. A cavity filled tooth."

Jacob looked at his mother with wide eyes. "I promise I'll never fake brush my teeth again."

* * *

As they approached what everyone had agreed would be the last house they heard a soft mewling coming from the ditch along the side of the road. Steve used his flashlight to illuminate the area and after a few seconds of looking they saw a small, frightened black kitten crouched in the high grass. His eyes were watery, his fur was tangled and he was very skinny. It was clear he hadn't been well taken care of in a long time, if ever.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Kaitlyn asked anxiously.

After a quick check Steve answered, "It's a boy."

Kaitlyn's voice began to quiver. "Is he hurt?"

"I don't think so," Steve responded after a cursory examination. "He's hungry though. And needs a bath."

"Can you bring him here so I can see him up close?" Kaitlyn pleaded.

Steve looked at Jenna who, after a moment of indecision, nodded yes. She knew there was no way Kaitlyn would be fully satisfied until she could see the cat for herself.

"He's still a kitten." Kaitlyn handed the umbrella part of her costume to her mother and hugged the furry, jet black creature with both hands. "I read where sometimes people do mean things to black cats around Halloween. We can't leave him out here. He might get hurt."

"But someone might be looking for him," Jenna said even though she already felt herself weakening at the look on her daughter's face.

"No one's looking for him," said a voice from behind them. They turned and Steve greeted one of his neighbors out trick-or-treating with his kids. "Someone dumped a bunch of kittens off in the ditch about a week ago. I put up flyers all over looking for the owners but no luck. All of the other ones found homes but that one kept scratching anyone who tried to pick it up." He shrugged. "Looks like he likes you though."

"Mom, we can't leave him here. He'll die." Kaitlyn turned her wet, pleading eyes towards her mother. "I'll take care of him. I promise. And I'll do extra chores to pay for his food and litter and toys. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease."

Dylan draped his arm around his sister's shoulders. "I'll help take care of him too."

"Me too," Jacob said excitedly.

"Us too," Cody and Casey said in unison.

"Well," Jenna smiled, "I appear to be outnumbered by quite a large margin."

"YAY!" the younger children cheered.

Steve looked at Jenna sympathetically. "Take it from me, sometimes a pet turns up in the most unexpected places. But before you know it you won't be able to remember how you lived without him."

"Do you want me to hold him while you go the last house, honey?" Jenna asked Kaitlyn. She smiled. "I'm pretty good at holding on to squirmy things."

"No, it's okay," Kaitlyn said, cuddling the kitten close. "I'll stay here while everybody else goes."

"Are you sure?"

One look at Kaitlyn as the other kids headed down the driveway answered her question.

Jenna smiled at the small bundle of fur happily curled up against her daughter's chest. "Welcome to the family."

 **THE END**

* * *

Happy Halloween!

 _Find all our REAL World **stories** in 'chronological order on **our website:** marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll_

 _If you are not on the REALMcRoll email list and would like to be, drop us an email at realmcroll at yahoo dot com with "Add me, please!" in the subject line. You'll get updates, contests, and fun McRoller games._

 _Looking for links to all the REAL World McRoll stories in one place? Check out our Tumblr page mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com._

 _In addition, one of our AWESOME REAL Worlders, katydid13, has created a community on here on fanfiction dot net that brings all of the REAL World stories, and all of Mari, Sammy & Ilna's pre-universe stories in __one place. You can find it at_

 _community/McRoll-in-the-Real-World_


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